Cybersecurity: Spend Big Bucks, Outsource or Be Hacked

When it comes to cybersecurity, businesses now have three choices:

Pay a premium for full-time security talent

Outsource

Be hacked

These choices may sound extreme, but they’re the logical responses to a perfect storm of rapidly evolving cyber threats and inadequate education programs. This combination of factors has resulted in a shortage of skilled security talent for nearly 80 percent of organizations.

A recent article by NewsFactor painted this picture of the cybersecurity landscape, citing research by Intel Security with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

While several top universities offer cybersecurity programs, the curriculum is unable to keep pace with the evolution of security threats. When students leave these programs and enter cybersecurity roles, they’re unprepared to deal with current cyber threats, according to the vast majority (76 percent) of lT professionals.

It’s not surprising, then, that knowledgeable cybersecurity professionals are in high demand and that these positions pay an average of $6,500 more than other IT professions.

If you can’t afford in-house resources, outsourcing can give you access to the cybersecurity skills you require for functions such as ongoing risk assessment and mitigation, network monitoring and access management, and repair of compromised systems. You’ll be in good company — nearly 60 percent of organizations say they’ve outsourced cybersecurity work.

So what will it be for your organization: spend the money for full-time security talent, outsource or be hacked?